August, Baseball, and another Craft Beer{or 2}

July ended with a two week stretch of much cooler than "normal" July weather...so much for Global Warming, er "Climate Change" as the phony jackasses that peddle that bullshit have not gone to calling it, since "Global Warming" has been proven, time and time, again, a fake science.  The next 10 days look mostly dry, last night, tomorrow, and maybe Saturday morning we will see a shower or two.

Tuesday evening Patricia and I headed for Fort Wayne, where we had front row seats behind the visitor's dugout for the host Tin Caps game with visiting Lake County...the seats and some meal money was a Father's Day gift from oldest son Sam, and we enjoyed the evening, despite the home team blowing 5-0 and 8-1 leads,

before eventually losing 10-9 to the Cleveland Indians farm team....the Midwest League is Class A Baseball, years ago I even got to work a game or three, doing play-by-play for the Wausau Timbers{nee' Mets} when the league was a majority Wisconsin based league...the league has migrated south since 1978, to much warmer weather, and much nicer ballparks...and it the truth be known, with cheaper prices on tickets, beer, food, and parking, the game is much more enjoyable than sitting in a MLB Park watching overplayed millionaires failing to run out ground balls...

While there I did have two beers, both "Fat Tire Ale" out of New Belgium Brewery in Colorado...I had tried it before and like it...a Amber Ale, which I really enjoy.  You cannot find it in Ohio, but
since we are only 10 miles from the Indiana line, I decided to check out the nearest towns and see what the local liquor stores had in stock.

A small package store in the Amish/Swiss Village of Berne{yep named after the city in Switzerland} not only had a couple cases of "Fat Tire", but two six packs of the companion brew, "1554" Black Ale{much more like a great Stout}, and with prices less than $9 a six pack I picked up a case of Fat and 12 of the darker ale....gotta say, if I can find it, I will be downing plenty of those this fall and winter, and with the cool temperatures, about 68, and drizzle coming down yesterday afternoon, I fired up a cigar, turned on the Reds(who finally won one on the coast) and downed two 1554s and a couple of Fat Tires...well worth the 50 mile round trip to Berne to say the least.  I will try to keep some in stock, fiances permitting of course.

Since I last posted over a week ago, several things have passed....I worked the 7 on 7 passing tournament in Celina, picking up a cool $150 bucks, one official per 40 yard field and frankly pretty easy work...that money will take care of gas and beer for the next month or so.

In addition the Lake Festival came and went....another success, but I would not be able to tell you first hand....I never ventured downtown, preferring to sit in the back yard downing a few brews.  And with baseball umpire work finally done, finishing up with the State ACME Tournament, which was won by Defiance over Coldwater in the 8 team event.  Defiance, with two ACME Championships to go with their D2 State High School spring title, has a very good 12 months.

Also passing was my 6th anniversary of writing this blog...it all began in late July 2007 and for the first 5 1/2 years I wrote most weeks, five or more posts...things have slowed down over the past 6
months, and by design I don't post more than one or two times per week these days...whenever I have a photo or update to jot down....I am surprised that I managed to keep it going as long as I did, especially at the former pace...but Happy 6th has come and gone, and I will keep plugging away:

back later>>>>

Photos-The Backyard Sunflowers, except the Mammouth, are going great guns....Patricia and I had front row seats in Fort Wayne...nice ballpark, good time...and the Fat Tire and 1554 Ale from New Belgium, are now on my "Favorites" list of brews, despite have to drive across the state line to Indiana to get any.